The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

Over the last few years, Lebanese cuisine has continued to take over Cairo’s dining scene at a rapid rate, owing to Egyptian’s love of regional variations of Oriental food. Unfortunately, there’s little outside of that and the standard western cuisines that are rife. That’s why we were immediately taken aback by Yerevan – an Armenian restaurant.

Located on the ground floor in phase two of Heliopolis shopping mall, Citystars, the venue has a simple and casual elegance with neutral colours melding in with dark woods and touches of colour that do a good job from taking you away from the hustle of the mall. Going into the restaurant, we noticed the wood oven where all their bread and pastries are baked.

After going through the menu, we realised that, although Armenian cuisine is similar Lebanese, every dish had a significant twist to it. Despite every Armenian word on the menu being translated, we still had to turn to the helpful staff for guidance. From the appetisers we opted for the Armenian Vine Leaves (35LE), the Armenian Makanek (43LE) and the Mix Mouajanat (40LE).

We were first served some complimentary delicious Baba Ghanoug dip with steaming freshly baked bread. The appetisers then followed shortly after, starting with the cold vine leaves, which were moist and topped with some pomegranate seeds, giving them a sweet taste. Smothered in a perfect sweet pomegranate sauce, the Armenian Maknek, meanwhile, was outstanding and was complimented perfectly by the warm bread. The Mix Moujanat was an array of minced meat kebbeh and pastries including cheese puffs, Pastrami Cheese rolls and Armenian Hats.

Said pastries were all made of fresh tasty dough and a cheesy filling with the Armenian Hats standing out thanks to a stuffing mixture of cheese, olives, onions and spicy sauce topped with yet more pomegranate seeds.

We also tried the Mixed Shawerma (55LE), Mante (70LE) and Fishne Kufte (87LE). The friendly waiters promptly brought the mains after we were done with the appetisers. The Shawerma Plate came as four small sandwiches stuffed with chicken, beef, cheese and soujouk served with French fries and mouth-watering tomeya. The stuffing of the sandwiches was succulent which made up for the dry and slightly burnt bread.

The Mante, a traditional Armenian dish, came as small pastry shells stuffed with minced meat, drenched in tomato garlic sauce and topped with yoghurt.  The sauce and the minced meat stuffing were very well seasoned, though the shells themselves were slightly dry and chewy. The Kufte plate featured four pieces of round kofta meat on a bead of crunchy bread bits with Fishne sauce – an Armenian yoghurt sumac sauce – but unfortunately, the over-cooked kofta pieces brought the dish down.

However, the appetisers were markedly better than the mains and the portions of the former are relatively small. All in all, though, Yerevan’s – and Armenian cuisine’s – middle ground of providing discerning Cairene diners familiar dishes with unfamiliar twists suggests that the restaurant should do well and is a unique edition to Citystars.